Blade Runner 2049 review: Ryan Gosling leads Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning, excellently crafted, near-perfect follow-up to the 1980s classic.
Blade Runner 2049 review by Paul Heath.
Blade Runner 2049 review
Blade Runner 2049 picks up thirty years after the events of the 1980s classic, which was brought to the screen by filmmaking legend Ridley Scott. French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival) takes over directing duties on this near-three-hour opus, which sees Ryan Gosling’s young blade runner Officer K unearthing a long-buried secret in rural California which threatens to turn its futuristic society into chaos. He must turn to Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard, the blade runner from the first movie, to help him out – the problem is, he disappeared over three decades ago.
Taking characters from Phillip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep‘, and re-recruiting the first film’s co-writer, Hampton Fancher, alongside Logan and Murder On The Orient Express scripter Michael Green, Villeneuve and co. have crafted a genuinely surprising, absolutely mind-blowing cinematic experience – perhaps of one the best films of the decade.
It is best to go Blade Runner 2049 not knowing too much about the film’s plot, as there are many much welcomed surprises along the way – pretty much from the off – and to go into the story in more depth would do the first viewing experience an injustice. While one would be able to enjoy this big-budget sequel as a stand-alone, a firm knowledge – with ideally a recent refresh – of the original is advised, as the story does swerve into detail of Ridley Scott’s classic from 1982. As to which of the eight versions (!) you should revisit – they being the Workprint, the U.S. Theatrical Cut, San Diego Sneak Preview Cut, the International Cut, the U.S. Broadcast Cut, the Director’s Cut and the Final Cut – is entirely up to you (we probably recommend the latter), but do go back to maximise your experience of ‘2049’. There are many nods, both subtle and not so subtle to the previous film.
Blade Runner 2049 review
What first grabs you about Villeneuve’s vision of dystopian California in the year 2049 is the scale and the expanse of this universe. The opening scene sees Gosling’s blade running Agent K venturing across baron lands in rural California to apprehend a suspect – a huge departure from the closed-in claustrophobic nature of the original. Of course, that’s still in there, which we get to see when ‘K’ returns to L.A. a bit later on – Villeneuve and his top-notch team recreating the visuals of the first film, and obviously expanding on it with the huge development in technology that a gap of 35 years between movies brings.
Speaking of effects – where there is a lot of them employed throughout – it never feels like you’re watching something generated in a computer, and Villeneuve opts for practical props and humongous sets where possible. Those sets are intricately crafted, and the set decoration by Alessandra Querzola and production design by Dennis Gassner are jaw-dropping in every frame. They are beautifully captured with legendary lensman Roger Deakins’ camera, and his work here is sure to land him an Oscar come early next year.
Blade Runner 2049 review
The film’s butt-numbing running time need not be a worry – it flies by – and with a superb performance from Gosling, who is in nearly every frame, a returning Ford, who is better than he has been for years, as well as a stunning supporting cast made up of the likes of Robin Wright (House Of Cards), Dave Bautista (WWE, Guardians Of The Galaxy) and a post-Joker Jared Leto (who is sinister and delicious), this epic, visually stunning marvel could just be one of the best sequels ever made – one that definitely surpasses the quality of its breath-taking original.
Villeneuve leads the way as one of the greatest auteurs of his time, one of the great visionaries working in the industry today, and a filmmaker not afraid to take on a franchise and feel that he has the ability to better it. He has with this. If 2017 has let you down in terms of visual feasts and fulfilling trips to your local multiplex, prepare to fall in love with cinema all over again. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Blade Runner 2049 review by Paul Heath, October 2017.
Blade Runner 2049 is released in UK cinemas on October 5th, 2017.
